Uganda to Start Giving Free Drugs to AIDS Patients in February

Health Minister Brigadier Jim Muhwezi said today that in February, Uganda will start giving free antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive people. "It is going to be gradual," he said. "We shall start with orphans, people involved in the mother-to-child transmission program, health workers who contract the disease while carrying out their duties and other less privileged groups," he said. International donor organizations expect to spend $279 million to fight AIDS in Uganda, Muhwezi said. About 1.2 million Ugandans have HIV, and 2 million children are AIDS orphans. Of the roughly 100,000 Ugandans needing antiretrovirals, about 17,000 now get them. Uganda has cut HIV infection rates from 30 percent in 1990 to about 5 percent today.

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